A Familiar Face
by Natdisneybrown
Summary: Someone Vera thought she would never see again turns up in an unexpected way.
1. Chapter 1

**Hope you all like this. Dont forget to leave a review- It would mean alot to me. Thank you to Fairytales1981 for the lovely review on my other story. You gave me the confidence to write more about Vera.**

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Vera parked her father's old Land Rover next to the other police cars and climbed out onto the grass. It was early morning and she had been called to a crime scene at the local park, where a body had been found. She saw Joe standing outside the tent that had been erected over the body, and walked towards him.

"What have we got then Joe?" she asked  
"A dog walker found the body about an hour ago and called it in, Looks like a woman in her mid thirties, but no ID yet."  
"Does Billy know the cause of death?"  
"He doesn't know for definite yet but there's a stab wound to the chest."  
"Let's take a look then"

They both pulled on paper suits and went into the tent. The corpse had been left exactly as it had been found, on the grass in the middle of a large pool of blood. Billy, who was crouching next to it, stood up so they could have a better look. The first thing Vera noticed was how familiar the woman's face looked. It was like she had seen her before somewhere. She had familiar dark eyes and messy reddish brown hair. Vera leaned over the face to get a closer look and a jolt of recognition hit her immediately. It couldn't be, could it? She felt light headed and needed to sit down, so she took a few deep breaths to steady herself.

"Are you alright?" Joe asked, noticing how pale she was. Autopsies and crime scenes didn't usually affect Vera like this.  
Vera didn't answer, she could feel the contents of her stomach rising. She ran out of the tent and vomited into a bush next to the tent. Joe ran after her and stood behind her until she stopped.  
"Are you alright?" He repeated  
"I'm fine, it was just the sight of the blood"  
"You've seen worse crime scenes than that one and they have never effected you before. Its not the angina is it?"  
"No, I'm fine. Its just something I ate"  
"If you say so, But why don't I fetch Billy just to be sure..."  
"Will you just leave it?" She snapped, cutting him off  
"Alright, there's no need to snap. How about we get a coffee, then go back in there?"  
"No thanks, I think I might go home pet" Vera said and walked off towards her car, leaving Joe looking confused.  
"You cant just leave! What about the investigation?"  
"You're in charge, you should know what to do by now" She shouted over her shoulder as she climbed into the drivers seat

Billy came out of the tent and stood next to Joe  
"What was that all about? Where is she going?" Billy asked as Vera drove away  
"Home. She took one look at the body and threw up"  
"That's not like Vera. Its not the angina again is it?"  
"I don't know, but Im going to find out." Joe answered


	2. Chapter 2

Vera had intended to drive herself straight home but halfway there, decided there was somewhere else she needed to go first, so turned around and drove back into town. She parked the Land Rover on the corner and walked through the wrought iron gates into the cemetery.

Although she had only been here once since the burial many years ago, Vera could still remember exactly where the grave was. She walked slowly along the rows of head stones until she found the one she was looking for and knelt down in front of it. Feeling guilty for not visiting for such a long time, she wondered how often this grave had been visited over the years and promised herself she would make an effort come more often.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly to the grave  
"You asked me to look out for her and I failed you. If I hadn't been so stubborn, if I had only payed her a visit, then this wouldn't have happened. It should be you sat by my grave, not the other way around."  
She sat in silence staring at the headstone for a while longer, then stood up quietly and walked back to the car.

When she got home she went straight to the kitchen and poured herself a large whisky. She didn't care about the angina, or that the doctors had told her to cut down. She needed something to numb the pain. She carried her drink through to the living room and put it down on a table next to the sofa. Then she went to the bookcase in the corner and pulled down an old leather photo album. It was filled with various old photos. Sitting down on the sofa with the album on her knee, she began to flick through it until she found the ones she wanted to see.

She gazed down at photos of the little girl with reddish brown hair and dark eyes grinning at the camera. It was hard to believe that the carefree girl in the photos would end up dead in a park. Vera should have protected her, but she hadn't seen her in years. Tears ran down her cheeks and she felt like even more guilty than when she first saw the body.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry it took so long to update- I've had trouble writing this. I know where I want the story to go, I just don't know how to say it.**

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After he had finished at the crime scene and been to the mortuary, Joe decided to go and give Vera an update on the case and make sure she was alright. Everyone had been worried about her.

He pulled up to her farmhouse and got out of the car. He knocked on the door. No answer. Her land rover was parked at the side of the house, so she was definitely in. He banged on the door harder.

"Open the door Vera, its me. I need to talk to you" He shouted through the letter box.  
He heard the sound of the key in the lock, and the door swung open to reveal Vera, red eyed from crying.

"Come in then" she said, and he followed her into the kitchen.

Vera sat down at the table in the centre of the room, as Joe began to make them coffee. He noticed the open whisky bottle out on the side but decided that now wasn't the time to give Vera a lecture about her drinking.

"Thought you might want an update on the case" Joe said, passing a mug of coffee to Vera, and then sitting down opposite her. She sighed heavily.  
"Go on then"  
"Billy finished the post mortem this morning. The woman died approximately twelve hours before she was found, so time of death was around 10pm. Cause of death was the stab wound to the heart, so she would have died almost instantly. Kenny is looking at CCTV overlooking the park entrance. We're still trying to get an ID, We couldn't match her prints to any on file"  
"Mmm. Thats good pet" Vera said absent mindedly, staring down at the table.  
"Vera, What's wrong? You were fine this morning until you saw the body. You've never left a crime scene like that and I can tell you've been crying. I'm worried about you"  
"You know when Stuart died, and I told you about me and Peter?" Vera said, looking up at him for the first time.  
"Yeah"  
"He had a daughter, sweet little thing she was. Closest I ever came to having a child. Well when he died, the last thing he asked me to do was to look out for her. She was 13 when he died."  
"How did he die?"  
"He was shot. We went to arrest a suspect, and he insisted on going in first. He always had to be the bloody hero. I heard the shot and ran in after him, he died in my arms. I blamed myself, It should have been me." Vera sniffed and turned away, so Joe couldn't see her face.  
"You can't think like that, it won't help"  
"I wasn't the only one. When I told little Emily about her dad, she blamed me too, said if it wasn't for me then her dad would still be alive. She was right. She didn't want to see me again, and for 22 years I was too stubborn, too busy to pick up the phone and see how she was doing. I failed her, and I failed Peter." They both sat in silence for a moment while Joe thought about what Vera had said.  
"I don't understand what this has to do with the crime scene this morning." Joe said eventually  
Vera got up and went in to the living room. She returned with the photo album and handed it to Joe.  
"This is Emily" she said pointing to the photo of the red haired little girl.  
"The woman in the park?"  
"Yes. Thats Emily Carter."  
"Oh Vera. You should have told me"  
"Im telling you now"  
"No, you should have told me at the crime scene"  
"I was ashamed. Seeing his daughter like that was like losing him all over again"  
"Its not your fault, you couldn't have stopped this"  
"Thats not what it feels like pet" Vera said sadly.  
"The best thing you can do now is to find out who killed Emily. Ill go and call Kenny and get him to track down her family, then Ill go and interview them."  
"No, We'll do it together. I owe her that"

Joe stood up and took his mobile outside to call Kenny, leaving Vera alone in the kitchen. She slid the album across the table and looked down at the various photos of Emily, Peter and herself. They both had so much life left to live. If only Vera had done more to protect them both then they would be sat here with her. But Joe was right, She owed it to them both to find out what had happened to poor Emily.


End file.
